Meet Our Executive Team

CameronMerage

MichaelMahon

GaryFabian

TerryLeClair

LoriNamazi

Our Story

First Team Real Estate is the largest independent brokerage firm in California and is ranked #11 among the largest privately held firms in the nation in 2014. Headquartered in Orange County, First Team was founded in 1976 by President and CEO Cameron Merage with just five agents in one office.

Today First Team Real Estate includes over 20 offices, 2,000 agents and associates and has maintained debt-free stability while growing to be a dominant industry force in Southern California.

Our company was founded on creative thinking and innovative marketing tools and that’s what has helped us to succeed and grow as a family. Our First Team® family of companies today includes residential, luxury and commercial real estate in addition to title, escrow, and mortgage.

So, Why Us?

Choosing a real estate company isn’t difficult – it all boils down to who attracts the most buyers and has the local neighborhood expertise to sell your home at the right price. First Team® Real Estate is the #1 independent real estate company in Southern California because we capture the highest sales volume and provide the best tools for selling your home.

Bringing in the Buyers

Multi–million dollar online and offline advertising budget

Showcase your home on all of the top real estate websites: Trulia, Zillow, Yahoo!®, Google™, and hundreds more

Custom YouTube® video of your home posted and exposed to thousands of users monthly

Search Engine Marketing optimized for Google™ and other top search sites

Hundreds of marketing relationships for listing syndication and enhancement

Our Local Advantage

Over 20 offices across Southern California supporting more than 2,000 agents and employees including title, escrow and mortgage services at your service

Top trained agents dedicated to helping you succeed

Over 100,000 buyer inquiries generated every year handled immediately by real estate professionals

The Way We See It

Real Estate is a local business

And it’s our local expertise that sets us apart from the competition – It’s as simple as that. Southern California is all we know, so we know it well. We have the local knowledge, statistics, data and neighborhood know-how to make your transaction better.

Markets vary from region–to–region and from neighborhood–to–neighborhood. National real estate trends are not necessarily Southern California trends. We can't control the market (or the weather, sorry about that), but we can control the depth and timeliness of knowledge we provide, giving you every advantage in a constantly shifting market.

Real Estate is cyclical

Where others might think this is a negative, we see it as a positive. A cyclical market creates new problems, but more importantly it creates endless opportunities that come from solving these challenges.

Our company was founded on the premise of innovation and creative problem solving and it's what continues to motivate us to create solutions that others can’t.

Real Estate is personal

Each and every First Team employee works together as your own personal team. Our agents share within each office, and our offices share with each other so that we can give you smart, collaborative solutions. The end result is the sheer power of teamwork; it’s pretty cool.

The independent status of First Team also means we'll never have to answer to the corporate hierarchy of an impersonal national conglomerate. That means you get one-on-one attention and responsive service from our creative, local decision makers. We believe that successful real estate transactions begin with strong personal relationships. We know that every real estate situation is unique, and that there are no cookie–cutter solutions.

Our History

5 agents in 1 office come together to build First Team Real Estate

Rise to the #1 independent real estate company in all of Orange County, CA in home sales

Hot Buys® developed to identify the best deals on the market

SNEAKPREVIEW® developed to give buyers a competitive edge

First Team joins Luxury Portfolio®, an ultra–luxury properties division of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World™

Market Trends™ developed to provide comprehensive analysis of our local markets

First In Our Hearts charity foundation is born

The NEW Rules of Real Estate® developed to help our agents adapt to the changing market